knee high by when?

corn knee high by the fourth of July. not sure who coined this one, but I've heard a lot of people reference this phrase. Either way I don't see any way this will be ,but it is progress as usual.

working weekends

More experimenting with trellises and tee-pees have brought me to decide to build about twelve to fourteen tee=pees and just three pieces of cattle fencing will make a good trellis between the organic bush beans and pole beans and the organic lemon cucumbers. It will be interesting to see how it holds up with wet foliage. Maybe I'll put a support stake in the middles. So far I accomplished my goal of a zero dollar budget on supports.

Some New Growth

Yesterday we BBQ-d all day and got plenty of sun hanging out with Jeff and Amy and later on with Julius and Reanna. Good times. Then we went to canyon road at the Alterman Gallery to organize their collection of almost two hundred paintings. Extra cash. Got bird feed and we (Becke mostly) filled the feeders seen below) also got a few mouse traps for our friends outside.

mammoth sunflowers are growing tall and holding up well to the wind. getting nice thick stalks. should support themselves and hopefully hold up to these monsoons coming up.

a perpetual work in progress

Today was a pretty good day. Rained for a minute, but still pretty damn hot. Plants all look like they are loving all the intense sun and heat, lots of new budding growth. Pinched off most of it to promote larger growth instead of early fruiting. Mulching the top-soil will be necessary later on.

Hops new growth, lookin strong and green, wrapping itself around the twine for a strong bond.

what's happening today

moon lit night last night, i think tonight is the actual full-moon

sunflowers!

Here are the mammoth sunflower seedlings that are supposed to grow to seven to ten feet tall. They will have large heads the size of a steering wheel that produce many seeds good for roasting or birdseed. Single flower per plant and from what I hear the stalks are supposed to be self supporting. I thought for sure I would need to stake them, but am trying desperately to not buy anymore t-posts or anything for that matter.

getting established

This photo below was taken before we got the fence up, which you can see behind the truck in rolls. It was some thick gauge chain-link I got for free when they enclosed an outdoor area at work. It was ten feet tall with the longest section being about thirty-three feet long. We divided it into a six foot and a four foot section. We have never worked with chain-link before and will probably never again. We cut and mended over one-hundred feet of the thick, blister-forming metal. Many people told me this would be difficult without a come-along, but between the two of us, we got it pretty tight. The six foot sections went to give the dogs a bigger run, and also enclosed three older trees (which will be good for shade now that it's warmer out)

starting from seed

Below is the mother plant of the Chinook brewing hops. They were doing very well inside our mock-greenhouse. They were well settled until they went outside and got destroyed by strong winds coming over the mountain. But I remain optimistic, as there is a lot of new, good green growth that is wrapped itself around the twine up the house. Also the small clone had been outside a day or two and is looking really good. They really just need to get established the first year to survive their first winter, then I will harvest more hops every year after that.



Below is a photo of our tray of basil. (sweet basil i think it was) We have seen slow development with the basil and all the herbs in general. The sage is doing the best out of everything, although the basil has some really dark green new growth.